Lead story

For feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, activist devotees adorn Mary with Palestinian symbols

Editor's note:

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast day falls on Dec. 12, has long been used as a symbol of resistance — claimed by those who feel a kinship with a Virgin Mary apparition in the form of a mixed-race woman speaking an Indigenous language. Recently Latino activists and artists in the U.S. and Mexico have adorned images of the patron saint of Mexico with keffiyehs and watermelons to signal support for Palestinian liberation. An Instagram account, “Where’s Lupita?,” features many of these illustrations. Its creator, Gustavo Martinez Contreras, sees this work as a continuation of the tradition of Chicanos who harnessed the Virgin as a symbol “in defiance against the system,” writes Alejandra Molina for RNS. Another artist, who helped create a Virgin of Guadalupe banner with the words “My son is Palestinian” in Spanish on it, sees her as the perfect conduit to evoke reaction. “We wanted to reach people’s hearts. The Virgin is a figure of authority. It’s as if she’s saying, ‘My children, don’t be indifferent.’”

Religion News

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Indigenous leaders bring first case under Texas' COVID-19-era religious liberty measure

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Commentary and Analysis

Meditation can reduce stress – but the pressure to overwork remains

 Mindfulness – meant to support health and detachment – is becoming a tool to support the corporate bottom line. By Jaime L Kucinskas for The Conversation

What is the ‘way of the warrior’? Students investigate the arts of war and peace in this course about virtue and the ethics of violence

The study of martial arts involves physical training − but also raises larger questions about ethics and what justifies the use of force. By Kenneth Andrew Andres Leonardo for The Conversation

Both right and left claim Bonhoeffer as a champion. Here's why his ideas fit neither

Bonhoeffer matters precisely because he reminds us that Christian behavior and attitudes are more than calculations for a partisan edge. By Charles Marsh/Religion News Service

Can you choose to believe something, just like that?

Many philosophers cast doubt on ‘doxastic voluntarism’: the idea that we can control what we believe, just like that. So can people be held to account for their beliefs? By Mark Boespflug for The Conversation

Photos of the Week: Buddha relics; Hindu protests and more

Officers carry Buddha's sacred tooth relics, on loan from China, to the Royal Garden in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

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